


Book 1: Heejin

by sakurahaiku



Series: COLORVERSE: The Inexplicable Meeting of 12 [1]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Dimension Breaking, Dimension Travel, Dream Sequences, Odd Eye Powers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Character Tags to be Added - Freeform, Robot!Vivi, superhumans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18054866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakurahaiku/pseuds/sakurahaiku
Summary: Heejin was just a normal girl, on a normal walk, in a normal park, to her favourite spot.She had no idea that this was the moment where everything changed.





	1. Around You

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Book 1 of what will be a 12 part series showcasing each girl and their role in the LOONAVERSE. 
> 
> Each chapter will be a different music video in which the girl highlighted in the book appears in. The chronology is my own. As each book progresses you will be able to figure out how the timeline works, and how the story fits together. 
> 
> There are no ships besides friendships. Characters and tags will added as I see fit. 
> 
> Please enjoy.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and the trees were only starting to lose their leaves for the autumn. Heejin walked through the park, taking in the scenery, breathing in the crisp air. She had a favourite bench that she sat at every day, and today she had a new book in her bag that she was ready to start reading.

 

Heejin was just a normal girl, on a normal walk, in a normal park, to her favourite spot. The people passing her by would think nothing of her, some would even recognize her. She was beautiful, sure, but not in a way that would draw unwanted attention. Her world was average, and normal, and therefore perfect.

 

The bench was under a tall tree, where she would be shaded from the sun. It was still early afternoon and the sky was still bright. Heejin smiled; once again there was no one sitting on this bench. She thanked God for her good luck once more, and sat down. For as long as she had been coming to this bench, she never once had to share it with another person. It was as if the world bended itself to her desire, letting her read in peace.

 

She made it through the first three chapters when she felt a presence next to her. Startled, she looked to her side and saw nothing. There was no one next to her. She stared down once more at the pages of the book. Something brushed quickly against her side. Looking, she noticed a cat sitting by her, large, yellow eyes staring at her.

 

Something about the cat felt enticing, almost familiar. Heejin continued to stare at this cat, waiting for something to happen.

 

Heejin took a breath, and for a moment she could swear the cat became almost human. A girl’s body was next to her, the face of a cat still staring back at her.

 

Heejin exhaled, and the girl was gone. The cat jumped off the bench and disappeared. Heejin’s book fell to the ground.


	2. ViViD (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heejin deals with the fallout of her world changing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah I've posted a second chapter in one day and am already working on the third. Don't get used to this.

Heejin walked around in a daze for weeks after she saw the cat. Her brain seemed to no longer work. She felt like she was falling into delusions. Her normal walks turned to walks in foreign cities in her mind. One day she could swear she saw the Eiffel Tower looming over the edges of the park.

 

She looked in the mirror and she could swear she saw her clothes change. Heejin ran her fingers down her dress and she felt silk and extravagance. She was a princess and the world was her kingdom. Her mother would place her hands on her daughter’s forehead but there was never a fever. Heejin had just inexplicably changed.

 

The small apartment she lived in turned into a palace. Heejin could feel the opulence of the Renaissance fall all around her. She wanted the world to see how important and beautiful and grand she had become. She looked in the mirror and saw only elegance. How could anyone call her just an average student when she was so, so much more?

 

Three weeks after she saw the cat, Heejin was admiring herself in the mirror when she could swear that her eyes looked different. She leaned closer and closer until her nose was grazing the glass. For half a second, Heejin watched as her eye turned a bright shade of pink. The world went dark, and Heejin felt herself falling.

 

When she awoke, she found that her grandeur had disappeared. Her room was back to how it was before. The tall ceilings of the palace were replaced by white plaster; if she stood on the bed she felt like she could touch it and feel the world end abruptly. Her clothes were nice, but drab in comparison to the gowns and dresses and jewels of her fantasies. Her walks were back to normal. She could no longer see the Eiffel Tower loom over the park.

 

She had gone back to normal. She was not a princess, she was just a girl. She walked to her favourite spot in the park. She was just a normal girl, on a normal walk, in a normal park. The word “normal” rang through her ears like an echo sent from hell. She stared at her favourite bench. There was a couple sitting there. She sat on another bench and blinked at the sunlight that got in her eyes. Heejin could not understand what had happened.

 

She waited and waited for the cat to come back, but it never did. Day after day Heejin came by, her favourite bench occupied, and she waited an watched. She stared at bushes, jumped at any sudden movement, but she never saw those yellow eyes watching her in the park ever again. The doctors couldn’t tell her what had occurred in her brain. All the tests came back normal. The word “normal” was tossed around by the doctors and her parents and Heejin begged God to make her deaf to the word.

 

Her eye never turned pinked again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this made some sort of sense. Please make sure you subscribe to both this book and to the series!


	3. Sonatine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heejin sees something that she shouldn't be able to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm stockpiling chapters so hopefully I'll be able to get some kind of rhythm going here.

When school started up again, Heejin had taken to wandering the streets at night. Her school friends had heard about her “incident”, as it had begun to be known, so she spent her days in silence. Heejin felt small, but in the dark, she could be large. The streets were bare, and Heejin could take up as much room as she could ever possibly want. In the dark, no one cared about who you were during the day, what people said about you during the day. She was just a normal girl, on a normal walk, on a normal street, in a normal city. She hated the word “normal”, but she tried to live and breathe it; after everything, she couldn’t just be satisfied being normal, but for the sake of everyone in her life she had to at least try to be.

 

Heejin walked by the Ferris wheel and stared up at it. It was so large and powerful, and yet so mundane. How could anyone or anything be content with doing the same thing over and over again? Just spinning in circles to no end? She could not imagine it. She wanted to remember what her purpose was. She had to have a purpose, didn’t she?

 

She had just turned around when an SUV flew by her, and Heejin saw a flash of pink and felt a pang in her chest. Holding her heart and holding her breath, she tried to put a name to this feeling. It wasn’t the shock of the car moving so quickly by her, so what was it? She could feel her head starting to ache. This feeling was too familiar and she couldn’t quite place it.

 

She looked up, and through squinting eyes with the help of the light of the moon, she could swear she could see a girl looking down on her from a nearby building.

 

“But it’s too high up,” Heejin thought, “I shouldn’t be able to see her that clearly.

 

Heejin quickly shut her eyes tightly. Her left eye was beginning to hurt, stinging in an unnatural way. She opened them again and looked back up, and she could swear she saw familiar, yellow eyes staring back down at her. She could barely register her movements when she started running. She found that the door to the building was open, and she thanked God for her continued incredible luck. She ran up and up all the flights of stairs, too focused to stop and catch her breath. She made it up to the landing to find that it was empty. There was nothing there to suggest that anyone else had been there recently.

 

She stared at the Ferris wheel, looking intently as it continued its slow, circular motion. It seemed to be mocking her with its monotony, when something so absolutely insane had just happened to her. Heejin’s breathing was slow and heavy, as her lungs struggled to comprehend the flights of stairs she just climbed. She kept her eyes steady on the Ferris wheel, following a single car go around and around the circle.

 

Her cell phone buzzed from her pocket. It was her mother, surely calling to ask where Heejin was, when she would be home. She swiped to ignore the call. Her mother didn’t need to know what was happening, if she would even believe Heejin. Heejin placed focused on retraining her lungs to breath, trying to ignore the steady sting in her left eye.

 

Suddenly, she heard a voice. Heejin looked around to try to find the source. Was it coming from above? Below? Next to her? Heejin couldn’t tell. Her eyes flew wildly over the scenery trying to find what was amiss. Down the street, a few levels above, she could see the flying, long, brown hair of a girl. A flash of white – a bird, perhaps? – flew in front of the girl, who then disappeared.

 

Heejin’s left eye burned stronger than it had moments before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it!!


	4. Everyday I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time since seeing the cat, Heejin felt complete.

The world was bright, bright, bright; Heejin had a hard time adjusting her eyes. She tried to take in her surroundings; the floor was smooth, the ceilings were high, and there was one large window. The sunlight was blinding. Calming herself, Heejin put her effort into trying to stand, only to find that she couldn’t. Blinking, she looked at her feet to see that, instead of shoes, she had on a pair of roller-skates. She tried to take them off, but they seemed attached to her.

 

Struggling to get up, Heejin resigned herself to slowly sliding places. Not that there was really anywhere to go; the place she was in seemed to start and end in this room that she was in. She looked around: was she the only one here? She rolled around, back and forth through this room, slowly getting her bearings with these godforsaken roller-skates on. She lost track of time, marvelling in the monotony of her behaviour.

 

She heard laughter from behind her, and for Heejin it was as if all time had stopped. Three girls appeared skating around her. She took in the long hair and the shouts of joy and she could not stop herself from joining them. The overwhelming sense of familiarity overtook her, and suddenly her feet were keeping up with her mind. It was as if she was an expert on skates; she grabbed hands with the other girls, and it was like they were parts of a greater whole.

 

For the first time since seeing the cat, Heejin felt complete.

 

The smallest girl was incredibly fast and incredibly loud. Another was very smooth and melodic; Heejin could hear her humming a familiar tune under her breath. The last was smooth and fast and loud at the same time. She looked at Heejin as if she could see all of the secrets she kept, and Heejin shuddered under the increasingly recognizable and overwhelmingly aware gaze. Heejin couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew these girls, but she couldn’t place where she had seen them before.

 

They were slowly joined by a pink haired girl, who was very quiet, and seemed to be glowing. She took the second girl, the melodic girl, by the hands and they skated together. The pink haired girl seemed uninterested in the others, for the most part, and seemed to cling to the melodic girl. The smallest girl skated in circles are them. The girl with the gaze locked arms with Heejin, and they skated together for a while.

 

Heejin couldn’t say how much time had passed when a boy appeared on the floor. She skated around the girls for a short period, before taking the pink haired girl’s hand, pulling her from the melodic girl. Heejin couldn’t help but giggle at the cute, vaguely romantic scene. The pink haired girl seemed so entranced by this boy. The girl with the gaze squeezed on her arm.

 

The world turned to the colour of wine in the time it took Heejin to blink. She watched as the boy turned to a young woman, dark hair streaming down her back, leading the pink haired girl around the floor. But even the pink haired girl seemed to have changed, as she now appeared to be blonde. Heejin’s breath hitched; the grip the other girl had on her arm tightened until Heejin wasn’t sure she had any blood circulating anymore. A chill went down her back as the dark-haired girl gave the pink – blonde? – haired girl a smile Heejin could only describe as sinister.

 

Then, as quickly as it changed, the world reverted. The blinding light was back, the girl was back to being a boy, and the pressure on Heejin’s arm disappeared. The boy skated off, and the five girls fell on the floor, out of breath. Heejin laughed, and the others joined her, but she wasn’t sure why she was laughing. It was as if she was divided into two halves. One half was telling her that she had just witnessed something truly life changing and terrifying. The other was saying that she was just tired from all the fun she just had with her best friends. It was a war inside of her brain.

 

Heejin gave a slight shiver when she felt a hand press against her left leg, another moving to cup her ear. She could hear the laughs of the other three girls two her right, so she knew that this must be the girl with the gaze trying to talk to her. Heejin could feel the breath on her skin, the other girl close enough for Heejin to experience the sensation of her lips barely grazing the skin of ear as she whispered,

 

“Do you know what you are yet?”

 

 Heejin stopped breathing as the other girl leaned away from her, releasing her hold on Heejin’s leg. The question was no who Heejin thought she was, but what she was. Heejin pulled her legs to her chest. This was not a question she wanted to answer. The other girls ignored her, as Heejin muttered into her knees, like a mantra,

 

“I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal. I am normal,”

 

She could feel the girl on her left lean over her body, ignoring Heejin in her distress, laughing at some joke the smallest girl had made. Heejin tried to close her ears to them; she couldn’t understand why they were ignoring her, and yet she wanted to be disregarded. She did not belong here, in this room of light and laughter.

 

“I am normal,” Heejin spoke into the void.

 

One of the girls gasped, and Heejin came back to reality. The smallest girl had gotten up. The melodic girl reached out towards her, but made no effort to get up. The youngest girl walked away from the others, into a fog that Heejin had never noticed before. The girl turned, gave a smile, and walked deeper into the fog, until her silhouette disappeared into nothingness. To her left, she could hear the girl with the gaze crying gently, to her far right she listened to the girl with the pink hair sputtering. Heejin herself felt a deep sense of sorrow for this girl she did not know.

 

The melodic girl turned to her, and Heejin noticed the hard gaze like a stone, with no tears in her eyes. The two girls locked eyes,

 

“She’s been gone for ages, you know. No need to cry for someone who wanders off so easily,”

 

The girl with the gaze shot up,

 

“She is missing! We need to find her! Don’t you remember?”

 

Heejin closed her eyes, but when she opened them she was staring at cold, white plaster. She sat up and took in the familiar surroundings of her room. Her breathing was heavy. She tried to remind herself it was only a dream, but to Heejin it had felt disturbingly real.

 

The name of the other girls was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t quite remember what they were. Did she even know them? Was this just a side effect of the dream? How could she feel such a connection to a dream?

 

Her left eye burned once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally getting some other girls in here! 
> 
> This is my longest chapter yet, so I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Please leave some constructive criticism if you have the time!


	5. rain51db

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is just on the tip of your tongue...

The world was bright, bright, bright as Heejin opened her eyes again. She knew that this was another dream; it was all too familiar in comparison to what happened before. Her eyes adjusted to the light as she took in her surroundings. She could see that she was in another small room, with smooth floors and willowy curtains. Large plants were everywhere in this small, blinding room. Heejin tried to stand and noticed that she was, thankfully, wearing real shoes this time around.

 

As she stood, blinking in the light, she heard a giggle from behind her. Heejin turned abruptly. The girl with the gaze was staring through her, sitting on a pristine sofa. Heejin swore she wasn’t there before.

 

“You finally woke up?” the girl asked Heejin, “It’s about time. We’ve been waiting for you,”

 

“We?” Heejin responded, “Who’s we? Where is this?”

 

“We’re your friends. Don’t you remember us? You’re here, at home, with your friends,” the other girl retorted, a twinge of sarcasm in her voice.  Someone put their head on Heejin’s shoulder, and she shuddered from the sudden intimacy,

 

“We’ve known each other forever! Why are you being like this?” came the voice of the melodic girl. Heejin knew that the pink haired girl couldn’t be far behind. The melodic girl took Heejin’s hand as they walked outside. Heejin stared in shock. When she was inside she could feel the glaring sunlight coming through the window, but outside it was perfectly black.

 

“Looks like the sun went down,” the melodic girl stated. The pink haired girl gave a hum of acknowledgement. Heejin pulled her hand free and turned around and around, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. The house they were in must have consisted only the room, as the shack she was staring at was too small for there to be anything else.  Surrounding them was a dense, dark forest. Heejin closed her eyes in concentration; how could any of this be possible? How could any of this be real?

 

“It’s only a dream,” Heejin whispered to herself. Of course, nothing of what she was seeing was possible or real, this was a figment of her imagination.

 

“You’re almost right,” Heejin trembled as the girl with the gaze had put her lips close to Heejin’s ear, “This probably feels too real for this to be a true dream of yours, am I correct?”

 

Heejin pulled herself away, walking towards the forest. Something was definitely, definitely wrong here. Or else something was definitely wrong with her mind. Heejin took a breath, and turned back towards her 3 companions.

 

3 companions.

 

“Where’s the other girl?” Heejin questioned.

 

“Who?” The pink haired girl responded.

 

“The smallest one. The loud one? Where did she go?”

 

“It’s only ever been the four of us. Don’t you remember? Don’t you remember us?” the pink haired girl said with a smile.

 

“You don’t need to worry about someone like that,” the melodic girl jutted in, “You don’t need someone who breaks promises and wanders off,”

 

“What do you know about her?” Heejin screamed, “What do you know about me?” The melodic girl just smiled and stared, her white teeth a direct contrast to the world around them. The girl with the gaze stood up and grabbed Heejin’s hand.

 

“Do you remember what you are?”

 

Heejin pulled her hand away, turned around, and walked directly into the forest. No one screamed after her, the other three had just let her go. Heejin walked and walked and walked until she was lost. Being lost in the forest in your dreams wasn’t so bad, Heejin decided.

 

Thunder crashed and Heejin’s eyes shot open. She stared up at the white plaster of her ceiling. She needed to know more. She had to know more. Who was she? What was she? Who were the other girls? What were the other girls? What happened to the smallest girl?

 

Rain hit her window, the name ‘Yeojin’ on the tip of her tongue. Heejin blinked, and forgot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit shorter this time, but I think that's fine.


	6. Around You, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it's on the tip of her tongue.

Heejin watched him go by. He was tall and handsome and he talked to her. No one talked to her anymore, not since she went ‘crazy’ over the summer. No one except him. Every day he said good morning to her, said goodbye when class was over. Sometimes, if she was especially lucky, he would sit with her at lunch. They would discuss school and homework and classroom drama. They would talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up. She wanted to be an author, or a scholar, or something that would keep her learning and reading. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to be yet, but Heejin knew she wanted to be around when he did.

 

She lamented all of her friends leaving her behind now that this wonderful force was in her life. He was sweet and kind and she was sure that her feelings were reciprocated. She wanted to tell someone, she wanted to have friends again. Images of long brown hair, a startling gaze, a flash of pink, a boisterous laugh on a small girl flashed through her brain. She tried to shake them out. Those were not friends. They were images that her brain created. Products of a dream. They were not her friends, they were figments of her imagination.

 

So, she lamented, as he walked by her desk to get to his. Heejin listened as her classmates gossiped, trying to pick up on anything interesting. There was a time when she wouldn’t have to eavesdrop, wouldn’t have to pretend she wasn’t craning her neck to hear the latest news. Those times were over. They weren’t saying anything interesting anyways. Heejin watched the clock, counting down in her head the seconds until the teacher walked through the door, and the lessons would start.

 

_10_

She blinked.

 

_9_

She blinked.

 

_8_

She blinked.

 

_7_

She blinked.

 

_6_

She blinked.

 

_5_

Wait…

 

_4_

Her left eye…

 

_3_

It was burning again.

 

_2_

She held it shut.

 

_1_

She forced her eye back open, pain searing through her as the door opened and the teacher walked in. She tried to focus on what he was saying, but the pain was overwhelming. She had to pretend to be normal, couldn’t bring attention to herself. She didn’t want to give her classmates a chance to call out how strange she was. Through blurry eyes, she watched as the door opened again, and she could see the silhouette of a girl.

 

She listened as the girl introduced herself as Kim Hyunjin. She was a new student. Her hobbies were track and baking bread. Heejin focused on the voice; she had heard that voice somewhere before, but she couldn’t quite place it. The pain subsided and her vision cleared. She took in the dark hair and the piercing eyes, and found that she could almost place the girl. Where did she know her from? It was on the tip of her tongue.

 

The girl was placed at the back of the room, next to him. He was friendly, as was expected. Heejin hoped and hoped that Hyunjin wasn’t more interesting to her. Hoped he thought Heejin was prettier. Heejin hoped to God that some new girl – where she was from was on the tip of her tongue – wouldn’t steal from her the only person worth talking to. The only person who thought she was worth talking to. Heejin desperately, desperately didn’t want to lose that.

 

She went weeks without talking to Hyunjin. The new girl had spent her time making friends with everyone. Laughing at jokes, being the light in the room. It was as if she had taken over the niche that Heejin once filled. She wouldn’t have been bitter about it, if he hadn’t succumbed. In the weeks since Hyunjin had come to their school, he had no more time for her. She was alone again.

 

Heejin would often see Hyunjin just standing outside, staring blankly at nothing. Heejin wondered what went on in the other girl’s head. She didn’t want to be curious, but Heejin was. She knew she had other things to worry about. Heejin had noticed that her left eye started aching the moment she went onto the school grounds, burned greater when she was at her desk, was unbearable by the time Hyunjin was in. She tried to ignore it, but Heejin had to wonder: who exactly was Kim Hyunjin?

 

Several more weeks passed, and he asked Heejin if they could meet at a local café. Heejin held her breath the entire time walking there. She knew that this would be a make or break moment for her. He would either reciprocate her feelings, or he wouldn’t. She didn’t want to think of the possibility of him just wanting to hang out as friends. Heejin wondered if maybe he had gotten bored of Hyunjin, if her novelty had worn off. She hoped so.

 

She turned the corner and walked into the café, and her heart immediately dropped. She could see him, sure, but he clearly wasn’t waiting for her. Heejin took in the long brown hair, the familiar uniform, and the ache in her eye. She was giving him something. Hyunjin was giving him something. He looked up, saw her, shock and hurt in his eyes. She locked eyes with Hyunjin as she turned around. Heejin ran out the door.

 

She ran and she ran and she ran.

 

No. No. No. No. No.

 

Heejin could not believe that she had been so utterly stupid. She knew that this had to be some sort of ploy by Kim Hyunjin, it had to be. They had wanted to hurt her. Everyone wanted to hurt her. She slowed down, out of breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shape of a girl, light blonde hair hitting her shoulders. Heejin saw the brightest shade of red, her own eye aching more strongly than ever before, as she collapsed into a world of black.

 

There was silence, until there wasn’t anymore.

 

“…Heejin?”

 

“Heejin are you alright?”

 

“Heejin will you please wake up?”

 

And then there was a muttering,

 

“That must have been Lip. Why was she here? Why is she watching? She’s not supposed to come in yet,”

 

That is what Heejin would have heard, would have heard if she had chosen to. As she slowly gained awareness back in her body, she realized her head was resting somewhere soft. There was a hand on her forehead. She started to squirm.

 

“…Heejin?!” the voice was female. Heejin could have sworn she had heard it before, but where? She slowly opened her eyes. As she adjusted to the sudden brightness, Hyunjin’s face came into focus. Heejin stared up at Hyunjin, trying to figure out where she knew this mysterious girl from.

 

“…Have we met? Before you came to school?” Heejin managed to say. Hyunjin shook her head,

 

“Maybe in a dream. Do you need me to help you stand up?” Heejin nodded, and Hyunjin slowly pulled Heejin up. Heejin felt stronger with every moment her body was brought upright.

 

“I want to apologize,” Hyunjin began, “You must have misunderstood. I was only asking him about you,”

 

“About me?”

 

“Our school doesn’t have a girls’ track team, and I’m thinking of making one. I wanted to know if you’d like to join me? I need more than just me for a team!”

 

“Why me?”

 

“You looked like a good runner. From the way you sped out of the café, I think I was right,”

 

“Oh. I see,”

 

“Will you join me?” Hyunjin took Heejin’s hands, and Heejin shuddered at the sudden intimacy. She doesn’t know why, but she agrees. Hyunjin starts jumping about and Heejin finds herself drawn into the momentum. Something about this interaction is strangely comforting, and Heejin finds herself wondering if maybe she did know her from a dream.

 

Maybe she does and she doesn’t know it yet.

 

Maybe it’s on the tip of her tongue.

 

The pain in her left eye goes from an unbearable burning, to a sharp stinging, to a dull ache, until there’s no pain left there at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally meet Hyunjin!!! It's going to be super fun to write their friendship!! 
> 
> This is the last of my stock-piled chapters, so if you have any criticism or anything you want to see let me know. I'm quite sick at the moment so I won't be writing for a few days, most likely. So please let me know :)


	7. I'll Be There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they say, curiosity killed the cat.

Heejin gradually grew into her new routine with Hyunjin. She enjoyed having someone to talk to before and after class again, and, Heejin noticed with some sort of pride, that her classmates looked at the pair with shock and disdain, as Hyunjin had become immediately liked. Heejin liked that her classmates couldn’t figure out why the pretty, new girl wanted to be friends with the girl that had, essentially, gone crazy over summer break. Heejin decided she preferred being the class enigma over being the class freak.

 

Heejin and Hyunjin had taken to running around the city and the park in order to train for track season. The fall air was always crisp and clear, and Heejin enjoyed running outside and seeing the different colours on the trees. They would meet after school, or in the mornings on their weekends and days off, and just run. Afterwards they would just sit and talk and bask in the joy of being new friends. They talked about favourite books and pets and childhood memories and everything and anything they could think about. Heejin loved just talking with Hyunjin; there was a familiar feeling to the girl that Heejin couldn’t quite place, but the friendship felt natural and Heejin was happy for it.

 

Some days, they would stop at Heejin’s favourite bench in the park and just sit and talk for hours on the weekends; Heejin sitting on the left, Hyunjin on the right. Hyunjin could entertain for hours with various animal impersonations and corny jokes. Heejin couldn’t remember the last time she had a friendship that felt so freeing and effortless. She felt more comfortable with Hyunjin with every passing minute they were together.

 

Heejin felt so comfortable in her new friendship, but she was still bothered by something. She remembered that day at the café, when Heejin was supposed to meet him, and Hyunjin had been there as well. Heejin remembered how Hyunjin was giving him something, though Heejin never asked what it was. Her view of the scene was too poor, and Heejin didn’t want to assume anything ill of her new friend.

 

As they say, however, curiosity killed the cat, and Heejin found herself being unable to hold in her question anymore. So, on a brisk day in the park, sitting on the bench, Heejin found herself fidgeting with anticipation.

 

“Hey, Hyunjin?” Heejin started, not wanting to seem to forward and formal. Hyunjin hummed in acknowledgement. “Do you remember that day when you chased after me from the café? What were you doing there?” Hyunjin looked up at her.

 

“I was asking him about you, don’t you remember?” Hyunjin looked down, as if in thought, “I could have sworn I had told you about that…?” Heejin shook her head.

 

“No, I know that part. I’m talking about something else. You gave him something that day? I never could quite figure out what it was,” Heejin spoke carefully, like a nervous swimmer treading water.

“Oh, that?” Hyunjin seemed shocked, “I was just giving that box back to him,”

 

“Back to him?”

 

“He had given it to me that morning, and so I went to return it to him,” Heejin could feel herself starting to sweat; she could feel the heat and moisture on her back, pressing against her shirt.

 

“Are you saying he confessed to you?”

 

“…yes,” Hyunjin said in a small voice, eyes lowered.

 

“And you were rejecting him?”

 

“Well I ate the cookies that were in there first. It was a shame to waste them.” Heejin took in the information. Her fears at that time were recognized. Heejin took in Hyunjin, her body hunched over in a way that Heejin didn’t recognize. This was some sort of shame, Heejin realized.

 

“Are you angry with me?” Hyunjin asked, voice impossibly quiet.

 

“No, I just wanted to know,” Heejin cleared her throat, “Anyways, I think we need to put in some effort to finding a few more members for the track team. I don’t think we’ll be allowed to compete with just the two of us,” Hyunjin stared at Heejin, a smile slowly spreading across her face once more.

 

“I’m going to have to figure out how many more girls we’ll need,” Hyunjin said, “I think a team of twelve would be a perfect number, but with your reputation we might be lucky to get two or three more,” Heejin gasped in mock offensive, and the girls laughed and laughed and laughed. Through her laughter, Hyunjin murmured out an apology, Heejin keeling over holding her stomach. The laughter faded, and the girls were left in comfortable silence out on that bench.

 

The wind blew, and a yellow leaf slowly drifted onto Hyunjin’s shoulder. Heejin blinked, and for a second there were many Hyunjins throughout the park, behind the arm of the bench. They were all wearing different clothes but they were all obviously Hyunjin. Heejin blinked again as Hyunjin brushed the leaf from her shoulder, and all the doppelgangers were gone.

 

“What’s wrong Heejin?” Hyunjin asked, voice heavy with worry.

 

“Well, I’m insane, if you haven’t heard,” Heejin brushed off the question with a soft laugh.

 

Heejin’s left eye twitched, but it didn’t burn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter to bring us back into the groove. 
> 
> Thank you all for your patience with this chapter. I've been quite sick and haven't felt up to writing. 
> 
> Please remember to like, comment, and subscribe!


	8. My Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunjin asks a question. Heejin doesn't know the right answer.

Before the weather turned too cold, Heejin and Hyunjin decided to take a break away from training just to hang out and be teenagers. That is how Heejin found herself sitting on a low ledge, Hyunjin trying her best to take a decent photo of the two of them. Hyunjin had dragged Heejin around the city, trying to find the perfect spot to take a profile picture for her social networks. Hyunjin had muttered something about her parents being worried that she wasn’t making friends, and Heejin had stared in confusion.

 

Yet Heejin smiled dutifully as Hyunjin tried angle after angle, location after location to get this perfect photo. There was almost something freeing in this for Heejin, like she was still somehow normal enough to have a profile picture be her greatest concern. All of her old friends had tried their best to distance themselves from her, deleting photos and status updates, and she was excited to be in Hyunjin’s. This could be the start of a new chapter for her, Heejin thought.

 

So, they ran around the city, hand in hand, smiling and taking photos. Every once and a while, Hyunjin would point out a cute piece of clothing in a store window, and Heejin would tell Hyunjin’s about the best bakeries in town that the new girl should try. Heejin wondered, slightly sadly, that maybe the people around them thought that Hyunjin was crazy too. Not that Hyunjin ever did anything to warrant that, but the association with Heejin might be enough. If Hyunjin was bothered by this, she never showed it. She raced on, the bright yellow of her phone case contrasting with her hand.

 

The sun was starting to go down when Heejin saw the cat. It was perched on a fence, intimidating yellow eyes staring right into Heejin. It could have been any cat, there for any reason, but Heejin knew better. She recognized that cat; it was the catalyst to all of her problems. Her breath caught in her throat.

 

Hyunjin was also staring at the cat intently, a look of mild humour in her eye. Very slowly, she reached out and stroked the cat’s fur, as if this was a pet she had known it’s entire life. Any feral city cat would have retaliated, or at least backed away, but not this one. Very gently, the cat leaned into Hyunjin’s open palm, and there seemed to be a sense of recognition between the two.

 

Heejin’s heart raced, amplified by the nearby sound of a train. Hyunjin looked at her with an expression that Heejin couldn’t quite read, and motioned for Heejin to come see the cat. Heejin’s heart was in her throat as she shook her head. The way Hyunjin interacted with this cat seemed oddly wrong, yet incredibly natural, and Heejin didn’t know how to understand the situation. She felt a dull throb in her left eye.

 

Eventually, Hyunjin pulled Heejin away, the sun further down in the sky then it was before. Heejin struggled to find her breath. Hyunjin gripped her hand tightly as they walked.

 

“You know that seeing that cat was good luck, right?” Hyunjin said softly. Heejin breathed in deeply as Hyunjin continued, “It’s because they’re protectors. When you see one watching you it’s because they’re keeping you safe from danger,”

 

Heejin exhaled, “But why would a cat be protecting me?” The question tumbled out of Heejin’s mouth before she could think, “What danger am I in?”

 

“Who knows,” Hyunjin whispered, her words tapering off into the wind. She let go of Heejin’s hand, stopping the both of them to look into Heejin’s eyes. For a second, Heejin felt almost scared, like Hyunjin knew something that she didn’t.

 

“Heejin,” Hyunjin began, “Everything is going to be fine. You’re not in any danger,” Her tone had an air of finality to it, but Heejin knew that this wasn’t the end of the discussion.

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Do you remember what I am?” Hyunjin said, voice dropping in volume.

 

Heejin’s breath hitched upon hearing the question. She racked her brain trying to figure out where she had heard that question before. It was similar, oh so very similar. The answer was on the tip of her tongue. Hyunjin smiled and pulled Heejin into a bone crushing hug.

 

“I’m your best friend, silly!” Hyunjin exclaimed, starting to move the girls in circles, rocking from one foot to another. Heejin found herself laughing, allowing herself to get pulled into Hyunjin’s familiar momentum. Then the hair on the back of her neck stood up as Hyunjin put her lips close to Heejin’s ear. Heejin could feel her breath on her skin.

 

“Heejin,” Hyunjin whispered, “Do you remember what you are?”

 

“Your best friend, silly,” Heejin responded softly. Hyunjin continued to rock their intertwined bodies in circles.

 

Heejin knew that question; she had heard it before. Hearing it sent a chill through her body, though her pulse was racing. She knew the question had an answer, but what? The answer she had given Hyunjin wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t the right answer. She could feel that truth through her bones.

 

She knew that the right answer was on the tip of her tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one before we get into the ending behemoths. 
> 
> I'm hoping that you, my dear readers, are starting to figure out exactly what is happening here. There are some themes from here on out that will reoccur throughout the other books. 
> 
> Next chapter we will finally meet Haseul, and I really hope that you all like where I take her, because it might not be where you expect.


	9. The Carol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The older girl was a little strange, just like Heejin and Hyunjin.

Snow is starting to fall when Hyunjin tells Heejin that she’s finally found someone else to join the track team. They discuss it in class before their teacher walks in, having convinced a classmate to move desks so they can sit together. Heejin nods as Hyunjin tells her about the senior who offered to join.

 

“I guess she needed something more for university applications,” Hyunjin talks animatedly, hands flailing, “Even if we don’t place it’s something that she can say she did,”

 

“Does she even know how to run?”

 

“Everyone knows how to run, Heejin,” Hyunjin rolls her eyes, “It’s in our DNA,” Heejin tries to ignore the emphasis placed on the word ‘our’. Since the afternoon with the cat, Heejin has noticed all the strange idiosyncrasies that Hyun possess. Notably, Heejin has realized that Hyunjin refers to the two of them as if they’re a world apart from everyone else. Heejin wonders if this is just a quirk of being best friends with Hyunjin, and if this older girl would get the same treatment.

 

“You said she offered to join, right? You didn’t ask her?”

 

“No, it was really strange. But a strange offer is better than no offer!” Hyunjin’s smile lit up her face. Heejin couldn’t help but smile along. That was the nature of their friendship: contagious. When Heejin laughs, Hyunjin laughs; when Hyunjin smiles, Heejin smiles. All day, Heejin’s curiosity over their new member grew and grew and grew, which is how they found themselves on a Sunday, meeting up with the senior.

 

The three of them decided to have some ‘team bonding’ by spending the day wandering the city, doing some Christmas shopping, and just seeing how they got along. Hyunjin had arranged the whole thing with the new member – her name was Haseul, Heejin learned – and Heejin was content to just be along for the ride. Hyunjin, maybe picking up on emotions that Heejin didn’t know she was feeling, said the two of them should hang out just the two of them beforehand. Heejin released a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

 

As they were about to reach their meeting point, Heejin felt her heart racing faster and faster. Since the summer she had more or less been alone except for Hyunjin. She was nervous about the possibility of having another friend; another person to text. She wondered if the senior knew that the crazy girl was one third of the team. Yet, when Hyunjin noticed Haseul in the crowd, Heejin felt comfortable sneaking up on the older girl.

 

Heejin knew Haseul from somewhere, she just knew it. There was something about how Haseul’s hair moved in the wind that reminded Heejin of summer nights and great heights. Her voice was melodious, as if she was always singing. The piercing look in Haseul’s eyes was both motherly and fierce. She reminded Heejin of a bird somehow. The connection between the three was natural.

 

“So, you’re the girl who lost her mind?” Haseul laughed kindly, extending her hand towards Heejin in greeting. Heejin gladly took it.

 

“That’s what they say,” Heejin responded warmly. Haseul’s hand was smooth and cold. A shiver went through Heejin’s body. Heejin blamed it on the wind. She could tell already how kind Haseul was, how lucky they were to have her on the team.

 

The conversation between the girls flowed naturally as they went from store to store. Haseul repeatedly pointed out clothes she thought would look nice on the other girls. Heejin felt like she had an older sister in the girl; she had a remarkably quick sense of ease with Haseul. Brushing her fingers over a yellow blazer in one store or another, she felt Haseul put her head on her right shoulder.

 

“That would look cute on you,” Haseul spoke, her voice like a song in Heejin’s ear, “It would make you look like a rabbit,”

 

“Would it?”

 

“Has no one ever told you that you look like a rabbit? It’s the first thing I noticed,” Haseul laughed softly.

 

“She does look a bit like a rabbit,” Hyunjin interjected, clearly excited by the comparison. The three of them laughed, Heejin’s fingers still clutching the blazer. There was something about it that she couldn’t let go of. Haseul laughed into Heejin’s shoulder, as if they hadn’t met for the first time just hours ago. Hyunjin’s laugh rang in Heejin’s left ear.

 

This was true peace, Heejin thought.

 

As the day turned into night, the girls went to say goodnight. They had ended their day at a café, discussing training schedules for the winter. The snow was starting to accumulate, they couldn’t run outside. Hyunjin told them about an indoor track at a nearby fitness centre, and the girls agreed to meet there.

 

“I think I know someone who would also be interested in joining,” Haseul stated, sipping the last of her cappuccino, “There’s an exchange student in the other senior class. She’s a good friend. I bet she would join if I asked,” Hyunjin beamed at this.

 

“Please ask her! If we have four people we can have a relay team!”

 

“I’ll definitely ask her! How many people did you want for the team anyways?”

 

“Twelve would be ideal, but I understand that we probably find that many girls,”

 

“Twelve? That’s an oddly…” Haseul paused, finding her words, “That’s an oddly specific number you’ve chosen,” Haseul and Hyunjin shared a look that Heejin couldn’t decipher. Hyunin’s eye were wide and innocent, Haseul was slightly squinting. Heejin’s eyes darted between the two. She felt left out of some secret between the two. The look seemed to indicate that the two were trying to figure out the other’s meaning, but Heejin wasn’t even sure how she knew that. The silence grew larger and larger.

 

“I just like the number twelve, that’s all” Hyunjin bluntly broke the muteness.

 

“If you’re sure,” Haseul sighed, grabbing her coat, “I should get going. I have someone else I have to meet tonight and I can’t be late,” The three girls all awkwardly stood up, saying their goodbyes. Haseul pulled Heejin into a tight hug.

 

“Hey, Heejin,” Haseul spoke into the other girl’s ear, “Now that we’re friends you have to promise me something,”

 

“Promise what?”

 

“That you’re never going to leave me, okay?”

 

“Okay,”

 

“You promise?”

 

“Yeah, I promise,” Haseul broke the hug and extended her pinky to the other girl. Heejin hesitantly extended her own. Hyunjin quietly watched, as if assessing the situation. Haseul put her finger tightly around Heejin’s. Heejin felt a shiver go down her spine as their hands touched.

 

“There,” Haseul smiled, “Now it’s official! We’re all friends!” The contact broke, and Heejin felt blood rushing through her body. Haseul hugged Hyunjin quickly and ran off, waving at the girls she left behind her.

 

“Isn’t she great?” Hyunjin looked expectantly at Heejin. Heejin smiled and agreed. The older girl was a little strange, just like Heejin and Hyunjin. The thought brightened Heejin’s heart. She felt relieved that there seemed to be no judgement over the fact that Heejin was the girl who went insane, and Hyunjin was the girl who willingly befriended that. Haseul was going to be the perfect addition to the team. Heejin couldn’t wait to meet the other senior Haseul promised to bring along.

 

Heejin and Hyunjin walked the familiar streets back to their houses. They said goodbye at the fork in the road that separated their ways home, both of them having several more blocks to walk. Heejin walked home smiling and skipping, snow falling gently around her. The moon glowed brightly in the night sky.

 

She went to bed in a better mood then she had for months, and Heejin thanked God for the day she just had. She prayed for better days and good dreams. She looked at the moon through her window. It seemed so close, like she could leap out her window and jump there. The thought lulled her to sleep.

 

She woke up in the dead of night, clouds having covered the moon. The name ‘Yeojin’ was burned into her brain. She heard the loud laughter and a small body frame pressed against her body. She had forgotten the name once, but she wouldn’t forget again. Who was Yeojin? What was her relation to her? Where did she disappear to?

 

“I see you,” Heejin said to her ceiling, “I saw you,”

 

The words came from nowhere. Her eye burned and pulsated.

 

It opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's Haseul!! She's probably going to be one of my favourites to write, just because I know how she's going to be. And you don't yet. But I hope you like where it's going!!
> 
> Please like, comment, and subscribe!


	10. Love and Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when we demand an answer of God?

Seasons change, snow melts, and yet the girls run on. Finally able to run track outside again, Heejin reveled in the spring air, feet hitting the asphalt as she ran towards Hyunjin, baton in hand. Haseul, true to her word, had brought another member on board shortly after that day in December. Vivi was from Hong Kong, and sported a very bright shade of pink in her hair. Heejin wondered how she got past administration, and then her knowledge got the best of her.

 

Someone was pulling the strings above Vivi, making sure that she got her way. With her eye, Heejin had seen that much of the truth. She couldn’t see much, and this new power scared her, but she could see that there was something off about her new friend. Someone had placed her in Heejin’s school, but Heejin couldn’t quite figure out why that would be. Was it because her eye was like this? Was she dangerous? Was she sane? Heejin couldn’t even answer these questions about herself anymore.

 

It wasn’t that she disliked Vivi, it was just that the older girl was too good to be true. Everything that Vivi did seemed to come with such ease. Heejin noticed the little things about the older girl. How effortlessly she ran, how little she needed to be coached. How when, at the end of a training session, all the girls would be sweaty and tired and Vivi would be standing as if nothing had happened at all. Heejin wanted to say that they had just gotten lucky with a prodigious runner as a teammate, but a twitch in her eye told her she was wrong.

 

Vivi was also quiet, too quiet. Haseul had told her it was because she was from Hong Kong and wasn’t good at speaking the language yet, but Heejin had her doubts. Even her own mother, as Heejin told her about her new friend ovcer dinner, seemed to think it was odd that a senior couldn’t speak the language. It was what it was, however, and Heejin was happy to have a new friend. Even if that friend left her feeling slightly uneasy.

 

Above all else, Heejin was happy to have a sense of normalcy in her life. Sure, that normalcy was interlaced with moments of twitching eyes and sensations of intense dread and curiosity when she was around her friends, but it was more normal than she’d had in months. Heejin was no longer spending her lunches alone; she and Hyunjin and Haseul and Vivi would spend that time together under a tree, laughing and laughing. Her phone blew up with texts during nights and weekends or even in classes if Hyunjin didn’t feel like paying attention. She had track and the anticipation of competition. Her parents were no longer concerned about the fact that Heejin had spent weeks during the summer in some sort of psychotic daze. This, Heejin thought, was what it felt like to be normal again.

 

The word ‘normal’, however, still burned in her brain as a brand that should be avoided. The twitching and pulsating of her eye, the infrequent flashes of bright pink both told her that she was, on some level, not normal. The intense feelings she got around her friends told her that, on some level, they were also not normal. The name ‘Yeojin’ that came to her in a dream was also not normal. Some nights, Heejin would laugh silently about how much of an enigma her life had become.

 

Heejin tried to take every day as it was, making mental notes of the strange occurrences that seemed to surround her. Like Vivi’s effortless perfectionism, or the strong gazes between Hyunjin and Haseul. Heejin tried to figure it all out. Was Vivi someone’s puppet? Did Hyunjin and Haseul hate each other? Or did they simply know something that Heejin did not? Who was Yeojin? What is Yeojin to her? What is Yeojin to them all?

 

Heejin hoped that finding out who Yeojin was would be the key to everything, to all her mysteries. She had taken to researching the name when she had any chance to. All of her efforts, unfortunately, came up with nothing. Somehow, not a single person in her city had that name. The closest she could find was an obituary for a child that had died shortly after birth. “Taken Home to God”, the line read. The family name had no relation to her or any of her friends.

 

So, Heejin continued to make note of the everyday occurrences of her life. She tried to focus more on the track team and their upcoming competition. She was the first runner, Hyunjin was the second, Haseul the third, and Vivi was the fourth and final, the anchor. The number four burned into Heejin’s mind, and her eye throbbed every time she thought about it. The number four with Vivi seemed wrong, somehow. Heejin couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

 

They all kept running and running and running. The team had a goal and that was to beat out all the other teams in the district. Hyunjin and Haseul wouldn’t settle for anything other than first place. Heejin thought it would be nice just to place. Vivi seemed content just to be running. So, they kept on training. They all kept running and running and running.

 

 One day, Heejin discovered something that seemed to acknowledge all of her queries about Vivi. Every day, Vivi would leave the group early, leaving Heejin and Hyunjin and Haseul to giggle amongst themselves. On this day, Heejin decided to quietly follow. She needed to know what Vivi was doing. If it was something normal, then everything was fine. If it wasn’t, then there was some truth to the burning in her eye. Heejin couldn’t rest until she knew.

 

So, she left Hyunjin and Haseul, giggling out in the corridor, and Heejin followed Vivi. She followed the older girl into a classroom, where Vivi closed the door. Peering through the window of the door, Heejin saw the truth. She watched Vivi plug herself into a backpack. Heejin’s heart stopped in her throat. She tried to wrap her head around what she was observing. Of course, she was getting a bad vibe off of Vivi. Of course, Vivi was so amazing at everything she did.

 

Vivi wasn’t human. Vivi was a robot.

 

Heejin couldn’t wrap her mind around this information. Of everything she expected Vivi to be, a robot wasn’t one of them. Everything that Vivi did, everything she was, made perfect sense to Heejin now. How she would walk behind the three of them whenever they went anywhere. How she was unnaturally quiet. How she would never eat anything in front of the others. Heejin remembered her shooting a basket for fun, and how she never ever missed a shot. Heejin could feel her heart pounding in her ears as she watched Vivi, asleep at a desk, plugged into some sort of battery.

 

Heejin watched her sometimes. Not every day, as to not be suspicious towards Hyunjin and Haseul, but enough to realize that Vivi did this every day. Heejin would just peer through the window and watched as her friend slept. For weeks Heejin observed her, just wondering how this happened. Who was controlling Vivi? Who made her? Was she always a robot? Or was she once a human? With each new question her eye throbbed.

 

Who was Vivi? What was Vivi? Who was Haseul? Who was Hyunjin? What was she? Who is she? What are they? Were all of them abnormal? Was it just Heejin and Vivi? Or were Hyunjin and Haseul’s strong glances glimpses of their own abnormality? What did they know? What weren’t they telling Heejin? Who was Yeojin? Where did Yeojin go? What happened to Yeojin? Why was she even looking for a Yeojin in the first place?

 

“She’s not as strange as you think,” a chilling voice pierced through Heejin’s ear, a sharp hand on her shoulder. Heejin turned, and was eye to eye with Haseul. She stared into the older girl’s gaze, and it was like her body froze.

 

“Vivi has always been like this for as long as I’ve known her,” Haseul spoke gently, every word like a punch to Heejin’s heart.

 

“It’s all going to be okay,” Haseul was stroking Heejin’s hair, “There’s nothing to be concerned about,”

 

And Heejin stared into Haseul’s eyes as the older girl’s left eye spun and turned a dark green. Heejin’s body immediately felt calm, all her uneasiness left her immediately. Haseul took her hand, and Heejin took one more look at Vivi’s sleeping form. The two of them walked away.

 

As she lay in bed that night, Heejin stared to look out her window to the moon. It was larger than Heejin had ever seen it before. She tried to focus on her breathing, but found that she couldn’t. She had recognized the green in Haseul’s eye. She had recognized it in herself. She remembered how her eye had turned pink when she had lost her mind. Heejin slowly crawled out of bed. She walked slowly towards her mirror. She placed her hands on the glass, and she leaned in. She focused on her left eye. It spun and turned a bright pink. And Heejin, somehow, understood.

 

The next day was a Friday, the final day before the tournament. Heejin stared at Haseul the entire time, but Haseul seemed to not notice. Or seemed to not care, Heejin thought bitterly. Hyunjin was completely unaware of the tension between the two. Vivi was doing everything perfectly, as per usual. Heejin marked down their times; they were on track to have a decent showing at the competition. They may not place first, but they would do decently well. Well enough to get more girls to join their team for the next season, since Haseul and Vivi would be graduated.

 

The sun was starting to set when Hyunjin excitedly shouted for one more run. The four took their places. Heejin knelt down, and began running. The baton in her hand, she put all her focus into running forward. Her hand shot out, and Hyunjin grabbed the baton. Heejin watched as Hyunjin ran and ran, handing the baton off to Haseul. Haseul ran and ran, handing the baton off to Vivi. Heejin watched as Vivi ran, ready to record the time. But Vivi didn’t stop. She kept running and running, veering off the track to run into the neighbourhood.

 

“Vivi!” Haseul screamed, “Vivi! What are you doing?! Come back!”

 

Heejin and Hyunjin shared a worried expression. Hyunjin grabbed her hand. The two watched as Haseul screamed, body hunching over. Heejin could hear the desperation. Hyunjin squeezed her hand, tighter and tighter, until Heejin wasn’t sure she had any circulation left.

 

“Where is she going?” Heejin turned to Hyunjin,

 

“She’s trying to go back,” Hyunjin stated, staring into Heejin’s eyes.

 

“What do you mean? What do you mean go back?”

 

“She’s trying to go back to where she came from?”

 

“Hong Kong?”

 

“If only it were that simple, Heejin. If only it were that simple,”

 

The sound of Haseul’s desperation grew louder and louder, until a deafening rumble overtook it. Heejin’s eyes grew wide as a vortex of light seemed to emerge from the distance. Hyunjin let go of Heejin’s hand. Haseul turned around, staring straight into Hyunjin’s eyes.

 

“How can we stop this?” Haseul demanded.

 

“We can’t,” Hyunjin bluntly stated.

 

“No! This can’t happen!” Haseul’s voice was hoarse, like it was breaking.

 

“It is,”

 

Heejin looked between the two of them. She took in Hyunjin’s calmness, as she stared at the vortex. She took in Haseul, as she glared down Hyunjin. Heejin took a breath.

 

“What’s going to happen?” Heejin looked at Hyunjin.

 

“This is just the beginning,” Hyunjin took Heejin’s hand again, “This is just the beginning of everything,”

 

“That light took Vivi!” Haseul screamed, “And it’s going to take you both too unless you fight it!”

 

“We can’t fight it,” Hyunjin responded calmly, “We can only accept the inevitable, until we meet each other again,”

 

“Heejin, don’t let it take you!” Haseul scrambled forward, “You promised me you were never going to leave me!”

 

Heejin’s eye opened. She could feel her iris spin as she looked at Haseul, “Is that what Yeojin did? She left you?”

 

Haseul’s eyes widened in surprise, and she was not able to form a response. The grip Hyunjin had on Heejin grew tighter once more.

 

“Is this what intuition is?” Hyunjin laughed, “What a useful skill!”

 

Heejin pulled her hand away from Hyunjin. She looked at the vortex, and her eye spun. Heejin watched as it grew closer, wind gradually growing from a breeze to a cyclone.

 

“I have to let it take me,” Heejin whispered.

 

“No! No!” Haseul cried, “You promised!”

 

Heejin stared Haseul in the eyes, “When we find each other again you both have to tell me everything you know,”

 

“Hey, Heejin?” Hyunjin’s hand brushed against Heejin’s shoulder, “Do you remember what you are?”

 

Haseul began truly sobbing. The light was coming close to her ankles; Heejin could feel it’s warmth. She looked at Hyunjin,

 

“No. But if I let the light take me, I’m sure I’ll remember,” Heejin felt herself slowly lift from the ground. Hyunjin also began to float. Haseul stayed firmly planted on the ground. Heejin and Hyunjin locked eyes,

 

“Just know this, Heejin,” Hyunjin smiled, “I see you now. I saw you before you saw me. And I’ve seen the future. We will meet again,”

 

“Who’s Yeojin?” Heejin screamed over the sound of the cyclone,

 

“Someone extraordinary,” Hyunjin exclaimed. Haseul sobbed from beneath them. Heejin stared Hyunjin in the eyes, watching as both her friend’s eyes spun, each of them turning a brilliant yellow. Heejin gasped. She wanted to tell Hyunjin that she had seen those eyes before, on a summer day in the park, but it was too late. The last thing Heejin saw of her friend was those two glowing, yellow eyes, piercing through the light.

 

The last thing Heejin heard was Haseul’s angry sobs, demanding an answer from God. Demanding an answer as to why everyone she loved had to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait on this one guys! It's been a rough few weeks in my life, but I'm thrilled to be writing again. I hope the length of the chapter makes up for the wait. 
> 
> It'll be interesting to see if any of you have any inkling as to what's going on. 
> 
> If it's also not obvious, every odd eye does something different. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! See y'all next time!


	11. You and Me Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Up, Up, Up
> 
> Burn, Burn, Burn

Heejin hadn’t felt that weightless since she fell into the depths of her psychosis, her summer-time delusions. The vortex of light was carrying her up, up, up; her eye burned, burned, burned. She knew she had made the right decision, to let the vortex sweep her away, but her heart felt heavy in her chest. Haseul’s cries continued to ring in her ears. Heejin felt tears stream down her face.

 

In the vortex, time stopped. Heejin had no concept of how long she had been rising or when her journey was going to end. She felt her tears drip off her face, falling into the void below. She couldn’t bring herself to look down. She couldn’t bring herself to look up either. So, she closed her eyes, and let her mind wander.

 

Heejin thought of her parents. She thought about how worried they were when she lost her mind. She remembered how her mother dutifully checked for a fever every day, though Heejin’s temperature stayed normal. She thought about how her mother would call during those nights when Heejin would wander, hoping to feel large again. Heejin couldn’t remember the last time she told her parents that she loved them. How long would it take for them to notice she was missing? Would they think that she had died? How long would they search for her? Would they give up finding her? Did they know she had gone somewhere they couldn’t follow? Did they know how deeply she loved them?

 

Heejin thought of Hyunjin. She thought of how the other girl came into her life: innocuously, almost quietly. Certainly painful, Heejin thought, as she remembered how her eye burned, and burned, and burned. Hyunjin had shown her a cat and told her that it was protecting her, that the cat was a good omen. Heejin’s eye burned, and she understood. Hyunjin had been that cat. Hyunjin had been everywhere at once. Hyunjin had been the cat on the park bench that fateful summer day. Did Hyunjin know how grateful Heejin was for her? Heejin wasn’t sure.

 

Hyunjin had called the vortex the beginning of everything, but Heejin didn’t know what she meant. Was she currently going back in time? If this was the beginning, why did the vortex feel so much like a domino in the middle of the row? Maybe for someone who could so easily view time, maybe the middle had become the beginning? Or maybe the vortex was the catalyst for something much bigger than itself? Heejin couldn’t be sure.

 

Heejin thought of Haseul. She thought of how the older girl could send shivers down Heejin’s spine with a simple touch. Heejin had looked into Haseul’s eye as it spun and turned green, as her own did. As Hyunjin’s did. Heejin thought of all the looks between Hyunjin and Haseul. Hyunjin had known so much, so maybe Haseul was the same? Heejin knew nothing except for Haseul’s anguish as Vivi ran away, as she and Hyunjin floated upwards. Heejin recalled that Haseul stayed on the ground.

 

“She wasn’t destined to come with us,” Heejin’s eye burned with the truth. Heejin remembered all that Haseul demanded of God, “She’s being punished. But for what?”

 

Heejin clenched her eye tighter, trying to figure out Haseul’s sins. She tried to feel their weight, their emotion, their intensity. This much of the truth, however, was blocked from Heejin. She knew Haseul was being punished, but for what? Only God could say.

 

Heejin thought of Vivi. She thought of how the pink haired girl was perfect in almost every conceivable way. She thought of how Vivi would remain quiet while the other three laughed. How Vivi would never eat. How Vivi would run, and run, and run. Heejin had to remind herself that Vivi wasn’t fully human. She was a robot, a cyborg, an android. She had to be perfect; it was in her programming.

 

Heejin knew, however, that there was something that was human about Vivi. She had been too focused on everything that made Vivi not-human, that Heejin had forgotten all the moments that proved her humanity. Vivi did miss shots. Vivi did fall asleep. Heejin could even remember a time that Vivi lost her battery. Heejin realized that Vivi hadn’t been created: she had been born. Someone changed her. But who? And why?

 

Heejin thought about the strange dreams that she had. She hadn’t remembered them before, but here, in this place between time, she did. Hyunjin, Haseul, and Vivi had all been there. She had felt the connection to them before she had ever met them. She remembered Hyunjin’s gaze and how it held her. She remembered how Haseul went around humming, like a songbird, and how it had drawn her in. She remembered Vivi’s quiet confidence. She remembered the boy who turned into a girl when the world turned to wine. She remembered couches and roller-skates and forests. But how much of that had been real? In her life, where did the line between reality and dream blur now?

 

Most of all, Heejin thought of Yeojin. In her dream, Yeojin had been fast and loud and boisterous. But in the next dream, the small girl had vanished. She hasn’t been sure when she begun to rise, but Heejin now knew that Yeojin was supposed to be there. Yeojin should have been running track with them. Yeojin should have made Heejin’s ears ring with piercing laughter.

 

‘Taken Home to God’ was what the obituary of the deceased infant Yeojin had read. Were the two Yeojin’s one and the same? Or was it just wishful thinking on Heejin’s part? In her dream, Haseul had implied that Yeojin was one to run away and break promises. Heejin understood this. Heejin had broken a promise to Haseul too. Had she and Yeojin broken the same promise? Heejin wished she knew.

 

But Heejin remembered that Vivi had stated that there had only ever been four of them. Heejin, and Hyunjin, and Haseul, and Vivi. Yeojin seemed like a non-issue to Vivi; someone who had never been. Heejin couldn’t wrap her head around it. Her eye burned.

 

But Hyunjin had known who Yeojin was. Had called the missing girl extraordinary. In her dreams, she had wept when Yeojin left. Hyunjin missed Yeojin. Hyunjin wanted Yeojin to be with them. Hyunjin wanted to find Yeojin, to bring her home. But where had Yeojin gone? How could she be found?

 

“If you ask yourself that many questions, you’ll drive yourself crazy,” Heejin’s feet settled on hard ground, and she opened her eyes at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. She looked into the harsh light and saw no one. Her breath hitched.

 

“Yeojin?” Heejin whispered into the wind. She felt a small hand grab hers. She looked to her right and stared into the brown eyes of Yeojin.

 

“It’s good to finally meet you,” Yeojin whispered, “You’ve missed so much,”

 

“Is this where you’ve been?”

 

“Here and there. It’s hard to stay still,”

 

“Where are we?”

 

“Somewhere,” Yeojin laughed, “You haven’t reached your final destination yet,”

 

“Where am I going?”

 

“Home,”

 

“Are you coming with me?”

 

“In a way,” Yeojin looked down, “But I won’t be with you,”

 

“Why not?” Heejin tightened her grip on Yeojin’s hand.

 

“I can’t focus that hard. I can’t focus hard enough to get to your version of that place,”

 

“But you’re here now!”

 

“But not forever,” Yeojin sadly looked into Heejin’s eyes, “Don’t worry though! We’ll all be together again! I promise!”

 

“All five of us?”

 

“You’re a fool if you think that there’s only five,” Yeojin held onto Heejin’s gaze.

 

“When will I see you again?”

 

“When it’s time,” Yeojin’s left eye spun and tuned orange, “Don’t look for me. You won’t be able to find me. I’ll come to you when I’m able to find my way back,”

 

“Back where?”

 

“Back home,”

 

“But I thought we were heading towards home?”

 

“Home is relative,” Yeojin laughed again.  

 

“Then I’ll see you soon,” Heejin’s eye spun and burned.

 

“I love you. I’ll see you soon,” Yeojin’s eye spun, and spun, and spun.

 

Heejin took in Yeojin. Her small build. Her bright eyes. Heejin wasn’t willing to let her go yet; she had so many questions for the smaller girl. But her eye was telling her to let Yeojin go. They would see each other again. It was a promise they would not break.

 

Yeojin’s hand evaporated from Heejin’s grasp.

 

And Heejin returned to the arms of God.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get a little glimpse into Yeojin. She'll be explored more in her own Book, as well as in Haseul's, but she's so pivotal to everything that I just can't leave her alone. 
> 
> It'll take me a little bit longer to finish the next chapter. The next one is ViViD: Part 2, and it's going to be a doozy. I have the guide all finished, but it's going to take a while to get it done. Thanks as always for your patience. 
> 
> I would also like to apologize for some of the previous chapters. I haven't put in as much effort into proofreading as I should have, and, when going back to reread things, have realized that there are little mistakes. It's not enough to lose the meaning, but enough to be angry at myself for letting them slide. I'll try to do better for that from now on. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!! I accept any and all comments and critiques!!


	12. ViViD (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes when the truth will come.

Every day in Eden was the same, day after day after day. Heejin woke up and swept the house. Gently going over the floor with the broom, she made sure to get every last bit of dirt. Heejin didn’t understand how the dirt got there; no one but her and the Teacher walked the halls. Yet the dirt continued to accumulate, and Heejin continued to clean. The dust would get on her apron. She would look out the window, but Heejin was never able to tell if it was day and night. She was in Eden, in heaven, and yet God refused to give her the sanctity of night.

 

The clock struck noon, and an imposing bell rang throughout the house. Heejin gently propped her broom up against the wall, brushing the dirt on her hands off with her apron. The Teacher was very particular about lunch time, and Heejin did not want to know what the consequences of missing the meal would be. She walked down the hallways, weaving her way through doors until she came to the dining room, to the table. The Teacher was already waiting there, hands on her lap. Two bowls of soup sat on the table; Heejin knew it would be tasteless, just like the countless days before.

 

Heejin slowly pulled her chair out, and carefully sat down. She said nothing. The Teacher disliked it when Heejin spoke before being addressed. The Teacher eyed Heejin, but Heejin quickly put her head down. The Teacher disliked it when Heejin showed signs of apparent haughtiness.

 

“Shall we pray?”

 

“Yes, Teacher,”

 

Heejin closed her eyes and spoke the words of the prayer quietly. She had been chastised for not knowing the words, but then chastised again for saying them too loudly. So Heejin carefully enunciated every syllable, but whispered them. The Teacher had warned her that disobedience would garner her the wrath of God. Heejin wasn’t sure what that meant, but she wanted to avoid it.

 

The prayer ended, the pair said ‘amen’. Beneath her lashes, Heejin watched the actions of the Teacher. She would be chastised if she picked up her spoon before the Teacher. She could feel the cold eyes of the teacher watching her, analyzing her. Eventually, the Teacher picked up her spoon and slowly began to eat her soup. Slowly, Heejin did the same. The soup was bland and tasteless, just as Heejin thought it would be. In silence, the two ate. The Teacher was the first to speak.

 

“Heejin,”

 

“Yes, Teacher?”

 

“Do you recall why you are here?”

 

“Yes, Teacher,”

 

“Please tell me why you are here,”

 

“God knows me as a sinner, and I must repent,”

 

“Yes, Heejin. Do you know how you must repent?”

 

“I must forget where I came from, and who I was in the past. By cleaning the house every day, I will be able to cleanse myself of my sins,”

 

“Yes, Heejin. What happens when you have truly cleaned yourself of sin?”

 

“I will be able to move on to true heaven and paradise.”

 

“Yes, Heejin. Finish your soup and clean the dishes. Then you may return to your chores,”

 

“Yes, Teacher,”

 

They had the same conversation every day, and had since Heejin had arrived in Eden. Heejin wasn’t sure what her sins were, or really how cleaning every day would cleanse her of them. Yet, Heejin had dutifully learned the answers to the questions, and replied with them every time she was asked to. Heejin wondered if this made her more of a sinner. She wasn’t sure.

 

Yet she still cleaned every day. There was nothing else she could do, nowhere that she could run. In her head, she cursed Yeojin. The smaller girl had given her hope that the destination at the end of the vortex was going to be ‘home’, somehow. This Eden, this heaven was not Heejin’s home. She felt alone, and scared; she felt worthless in a way she had never felt before. Was this a sign of being a sinner? Heejin wasn’t sure.

 

Every once in a while, the Teacher would arrange for a distraction, something to keep Heejin away from truly redeeming herself in the eyes of god. The first time it was clothes. Heejin had opened a usually empty cupboard to find that it was filled with shoes and clothes. She counted the shoes; there were twelve pairs. She thumbed at the clothes, and she couldn’t resist the urge to try them on. So, she did. The Teacher caught her while she was wearing a yellow blazer. The jacket had reminded Heejin of Haseul and Christmastime, and she missed her friends. For her disobedience, she went without lunch for a week.

 

The next time, it was rabbits. Heejin, in that moment, became Alice trapped in Wonderland. She followed the rabbits down the hallway, wondering where they would lead her. She followed and followed and followed, until she reached the destination. The traitorous rabbits had led her to the Teacher. For her disobedience, she went without lunch for a week.

 

The latest distraction was golf balls. She opened a cupboard and a waterfall of yellow golf balls came pouring out. Heejin had stepped back in shock. Heejin hadn’t felt the urge to play with them. Instead, she gathered the balls one by one and stacked them. She left a clean pile. The Teacher seemed pleased with her progress. In her mind, however, Heejin had played and made a mess; she tried not to let it show.

 

The golf balls, however, had left a sour taste in Heejin’s mouth. It felt like they weren’t for her, but for someone else. She had felt no connection to the yellow golf balls, shining like a Golden Delicious apple. She wondered who they were supposed to distract. The yellow made her think of Hyunjin, and her two spinning, golden eyes.

 

The days went by, every hour blurring into the next. With every second, Heejin could feel her grasp on her reality shaking. She swept the hallways. She washed the floors. She dusted the shelves and various objects throughout the house. Heejin was bored, but Heejin couldn’t stop cleaning. It had, somehow, become all she had left.

 

She was doing her regular rounds in the library when her eye spun and burned. Heejin felt the familiar sensation, and looked around for the Teacher. Seeing she was alone, she let her eye take her where it needed her to go. She wandered the shelves until she stopped in front of a particularly innocuous one. Her hand moved by itself, grasping at a book she must have passed a thousand times before. She glanced at the title, and her heart jumped into her throat.

 

_On the LOONA_

 

“The LOONA…” Heejin whispered to the dust. She knew it was the first time she had ever seen that word, and yet it invoked in her a feeling of strength and recognition. She ran her thumb down the spine. The book was dusty, despite Heejin meticulously cleaning the library constantly. The book felt heavy in her hands. Her eye spun and burned. The book was meant for her, Heejin realized. She flipped it open, and read.

 

Heejin learned that the LOONA were a new kind of human, created by God. They were supposed to be superhuman, and were gifted with extraordinary powers. God created twelve at first, and they were to be given to families to raise; genetically similar to their foster families, but just a little off. They could be brought back to Eden at any point. They were created to solve problems justly, and to choose no sides in war. They were a true neutral being.

 

Six were sent to the realm of humans. Two were older. Two were the same age. One was younger. One was younger still. Different ages to perfect the formula. They were to gradually learn about their abilities as time saw fit. How would human nature define their roles of superhumans? They would not hear the name ‘LOONA’ until their death, when they would be brought back into God’s arms.

 

Two were sent to a second Earth, one that lived parallel to the realm of humans. The first, the oldest, LOONA came first. Another was sent down years later. The second Earth had some concept of magic, and the two would grow up embracing their natural abilities. How would this situation change how the LOONA developed? How would they use their neutrality in a world where impossibilities occurred? They would not hear the name ‘LOONA’ until their death, when they would be brought back into God’s arms.

 

Four remained in Eden, under the watchful eye of God. One older. One younger. One younger still. The last younger still. They would learn true neutrality under a watchful eye. They would know of their abilities, but would be cautioned against overuse. They would watch and observe the other two realms. They would grow up with the name ‘LOONA’ burned into their brains. They would have no family but one another.

 

The LOONA did not end up being as God intended; they were disobedient and forgot their purpose. Some allowed themselves to be overcome with sin as they learned of their abilities. Some allowed themselves to be overly good, brimming with virtue. Only one would remain neutral. Their shared DNA, the shared power, would draw them towards one another, until the twelve were united.

 

The book questioned what would happen when the LOONA finally united. Would they find sisterhood and sorority with one another? Would they fight? Would they use their combined good for evil? For good? For their intended neutrality? There was no force created by God that could act as a prerequisite. Was it safer to allow the LOONA to draw together? Or was it better for all realms if they stayed apart?

 

Heejin’s breath hinged and her mind raced. She tried to put the details together to what she already knew. There were twelve LOONA; she could think of five, herself included. She remembered how Hyunjin had wanted twelve members for the girl’s track team. Had Hyunjin been aware of the LOONA? Heejin remembered Haseul’s response to that number, and the older girl’s suspicion to the specific number. Had Haseul been aware of the LOONA?

 

Heejin thought about the ages of the LOONA, but the numbers didn’t add up. Heejin thought that herself, Hyunjin, Haseul, Vivi, and Yeojin should be five of the six girls in the realm of humans, but Haseul and Vivi’s ages didn’t match up. But if they weren’t, were the LOONA capable of travelling between the realms? Was it through a vortex of light like the one that took Heejin to Eden? Or some other means?

 

And who were the four girls who were destined to remain in Eden. Were they in the house with her? Did they know she was there? Could Yeojin be the youngest of them all? Surely the Teacher wasn’t the oldest of the four? Heejin’s brain swelled with questions.

 

“I see you’ve discovered what you truly are,” the Teacher’s voice erupted from the silence, “You truly are a sinner, Heejin,”

 

Heejin dropped the book as the Teacher grabbed her arm.

 

“You must be punished for your wickedness,” the Teacher hissed, “but what punishment is strong enough for you to earn your repentance?”

 

Heejin didn’t turn to look at the Teacher, stood her ground as the woman tried to move her. Heejin felt her eye spin. Heejin felt her eye burn. She saw a flash of pink.

 

“No,” Heejin whispered,

 

“No?!” the Teacher forced Heejin to turn around.

 

“No,” Heejin met the Teacher’s glare, “I will not accept this punishment. I will not turn my back on the truth. I sense that you are the one full of wickedness. I sense that you will keep me from my truth,”

 

Heejin’s eye spun, and the world distorted. The Teacher disappeared. Heejin looked at her world of art. The walls were like watercolours; glass hung from the ceiling. Heejin walked out of the library. She walked down the hallway until she entered the washroom, and drew herself a bath. She watched in glee as sparkles flowed out of the faucet with the water. She got in, and allowed the water to drench her and her dress, to rid herself of the Teacher’s lies.

 

She felt the intuition flow through her. Hyunjin had mentioned it before, Heejin could remember. She could use this intuition as her greatest assess, in order to help everyone. She would reunite with Hyunjin. She would relieve Haseul of her sins. She would help Vivi become a full human – or, LOONA – again. She would find Yeojin wherever Yeojin wanted to be found. She would unite the LOONA, for better or for worse.

 

Heejin emerged from the tub, dry as if she had been sitting in unfilled porcelain. The watercolour dancing on the walls reminded her of before, when she lost her mind and her world left her behind. It was strangely comforting. She walked out of the washroom. She walked down the hallway until she entered the main foyer of the house.

 

She understood now, what Hyunjin had meant about the vortex being the beginning. Everything that happened before was not integral to her life anymore. That Heejin was dead. This Heejin was given a new beginning. She was more than herself; she was one twelfth of a sorority. She had sisters, somewhere, that she needed to find. The vortex was the beginning of her new now.

 

She looked at the door. There was no Teacher to hold her back. She held her breath. Heejin felt her eye stop spinning, and the burning decreased to nothing. The watercolour walls went back to being plastered. Heejin stared at the door, feeling more and more like the maid she was an hour ago. The feeling of freedom was overwhelming, and Heejin had to turn away to compose herself.

 

That’s when she heard them, the footsteps. They were determined steps. Heejin turned around, and saw the shadow walk away. Heejin ran for the door, expecting to see Yeojin walking away from the house. She stared at the back of a girl, walking with purpose. The hair was too long, too dark, to be Yeojin, and the girl was too tall. The presence didn’t seem like Hyunjin either. The girl kept walking. Heejin followed.

 

Was this girl one of the four from Eden? Or was she a trick and distraction sent by God? The girl kept walking. Heejin followed. Her eye felt numb, as if it had run out of fire to burn. The more Heejin followed, the more her eye felt like ice. But Heejin kept walking.

 

“I see you,” Heejin whispered to the girl’s back, “I saw you,” The girl never turned around. Heejin kept following until the girl abruptly stopped. Heejin stayed several steps behind. Heejin inhaled as her eye froze in anticipation. The world turned pink, then silver. The girl fell into an abyss below. Heejin followed.

 

Yeojin was right; Heejin was headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some answers. But answers always lead to more questions. Who are the six from the realm of humans. Who are the two from the second realm? Who turned to sin? Who turned to virtue? Who remained neutral? What will happen when the LOONA unite? 
> 
> We are nearing the end of Heejin's story. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed what is the longest chapter thus far. 
> 
> Please leave a comment; it really makes my day!


	13. Egoist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is she the watcher or the watched?

Heejin woke up before the other girl, with her arms wrapped tightly around the taller frame. Heejin blinked the ice from her eyes. She tried to piece together what had happened. She remembered falling, and she remembered moving to hug the other girl. Or maybe the other girl hugged her? Heejin’s memory was foggy. Yet there she was, on a mattress on a concrete floor. She looked at the sleeping girl; her face was peaceful and smooth.

 

Something inside her told her to move, so she did. Heejin brushed the dirt of her skirt. She noticed that she was no longer wearing the maids’ clothes from Eden, but rather an outfit of pure white. Heejin looked down at her skirt, satisfied with the change. She then moved her eyes to the sky, and noticed she had a long way to climb. Her heart beat faster with the revelation of how far she had dropped.

 

“How far below Eden did I fall, exactly?” Heejin whispered into the stagnant air. The cold air was her answer. Heejin breathed deeply, and began her long descent up. She needed to move. Her eye was begging. With a glance back at the sleeping girl on the mattress, she put her foot on the first step and climbed.

 

Heejin felt like she had been climbing for a long time when she felt a stirring in her eye. She looked down towards the ground. The other girl had awoken. Her intuition told her that the other was about to look up, and Heejin moved her head quickly to avoid her gaze. Heejin’s intuition told her that their eyes should not lock yet, and Heejin had no reason to doubt her intuition yet; it was the power of her eye, of her soul.

 

She realized the girl was following her, as Heejin made the twisted turns through dark hallways. The footsteps were far behind, but Heejin knew they were there. They became a constant presence through her journey upwards. She let her eye guide her ever upwards.

 

As Heejin walked, she contemplated where she had been and where she had yet to go. She counted on her fingers. Since she was not aware of her ability and her eye, Heejin surmised that she must be one of the six from the first Earth. She also knew that she had risen to Eden, to heaven, by a vortex of light.

 

But where had she fallen too? The stagnant, cold air around the mattress had been her answer. She wasn’t in Eden, and the atmosphere didn’t feel like her Earth. It didn’t feel like an Earth at all. She knew in her heart and her eye that she fell to far to be in the second Earth. Heejin was calm about her revelation that she had fallen to Hell. It was almost strangely fitting; the Teacher had told her time and time again that she was a sinner. And, Heejin smiled in the dark, sinners always go to Hell when their redemption had not been reached.

 

So Heejin kept climbing, and made it her intention to make it to the second Earth. She wanted to go to this Earth and find the two of the LOONA that resided there, if they were still there to find. To have a goal was a good thing, she decided. So, she continued her voyage upwards, the distant echoes of footsteps behind her.

 

She stopped only momentarily, when she had climbed high enough to feel the oxygen of Earth, her Earth, surround her. She took a deep breath in, revelling in the familiar atmosphere. She thought of her parents, and wondered if they missed her. She thought of Hyunjin, and wondered where the light had taken her. She thought of Haseul, and wondered if her sins would be able to be forgiven. She thought of Vivi, and wondered where the older girl had run off to. And she thought of Yeojin, and wondered when they would be reunited again.  Heejin laughed quietly, knowing that she would meet Yeojin again when Yeojin decided. At the sound of footsteps closing in, Heejin once again continued her journey.

 

As she drew closer to the second Earth, Heejin contemplated sin. What exactly had made her a sinner in the eyes of the Teacher? She did not feel like a sinner, Heejin realized, for she had never committed a true sin. But she felt too broken to feel truly virtuous, so she must be a sinner. Heejin both accepted and doubted her role as one of the seven sinners in the LOONA, but she saw no other alternative. Another sinner was undoubtedly Haseul, so chained to her sins that she could not rise. But who else was a sinner? And who was virtuous. And who was neither? Perhaps Yeojin, who seemed to float between existence and death? Heejin wasn’t sure.

 

And then the air of the second Earth hit her, and Heejin emerged on top of a roof top. She breathed in the freshness of the world, the moon large in the sky. She looked down at the city. She could see the outlines of all the people walking below. It mystified her. Heejin stared and stared and stared.

 

And then her eye spun and turned to ice. Heejin turned to see the other girl was on the roof as well. She too was looking below and watching the people. Heejin started walking towards her, the urge to look her in the eye was too strong. Heeijn took purposeful steps forward, and the other girl turned around. The world turned silver for a brief moment, and their eyes met.

 

“In these worlds, there are twelve girls with extraordinary powers,” Heejin began.

 

“I know that already,” the other girl boldly responded, “I have always known that,”

 

“You know of the LOONA?”

 

“I have always known of them,”

 

“We are both LOONA,” Heejin stared at the other girl, “Did you know that?”

 

“As soon as I looked at you I knew you were like me,”

 

“You’re from Eden?”

 

“Of course,” the other girl laughed, “And I know that you’re not,”

 

“Well I know of others,”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I know of four others,”

 

“And I know of three,”

 

“So that’s nine then,” Heejin sighed, “Then who are the other three?”

 

“I guess we’ll have to find them,”

 

“Well, one’s going to find us,” Heejin laughed, thinking of Yeojin.

 

“That’s no matter. We’ll all be together again,”

 

“We’ve all been together before?”

 

“Our spirits have,” the other girl looked straight into Heejin’s soul, “We’ve been together in the arms of God,”

 

“Well, we’ll find them again together,”

 

“No,”

 

“No?”

 

“I have to find the other three first,”

 

“The other three from Eden?”

 

“Yes. They left me alone in the woods. But I need to find them,” the other girl looked on the verge of tears.

 

“They don’t sound very nice,”

 

“But God created us as sisters all the same,”

 

“Then find them. And return to me,” Heejin grasped at the other girl’s hands. The other girl was taller, younger. But when their hands met it was like fire meeting ice, like wind meeting rock. But like the two sides of a mirror finally rejoining at the same time. Heejin drew her into a hug.

 

“My name is Heejin,” she whispered into the other girl’s ear.

 

“I’m Olivia,” a whisper came back, “Olivia Hye”

 

Olivia broke the hug, and the two locked eyes. Heejin felt the conflict leave her body, but felt the familiarity disappear too. Olivia smiled and ran, leaping off the roof into the city below. Heejin ran and looked over the edge, but the other girl was nowhere to be seen. And, yet, Heejin felt at peace.

 

But if she had paid attention, she would have also felt the red eye of the owl watching her, and waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have a proper introduction to Olivia :) 
> 
> We're almost at the end of Book 1!!!! Next chapter will be the Book epilogue, and then I can start on Hyunjin!! 
> 
> I hope you all like where this is going! Please feel free to comment, I really appreciate it.


	14. Hi High (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Run and fly.

Heejin stared up at the tower. She hadn’t come down from there, but she was close. She marked it down in a notebook. Since arriving on the second Earth (a middle Earth, Heejin has realized), she had been jotting down any inconsistencies in the world. This tower was one of them, a direct path from Eden. It wasn’t the sinner’s route that she and Olivia had taken. It was as if the tower had been created with the intention of being a red carpet out of Eden. Her eye could see that it glowed the colour of wine.

 

Heejin continued walking, the sound of her sneakers hitting concrete echoing in her ears. She had to get to the base of the tower, to see where someone could come out. She didn’t think that it would be any of the other three from Eden, Olivia had implied that they had already escaped, but maybe someone else would emerge. Her eye spun with the possibilities. She followed the winding staircases around the buildings surrounding her, trying to keep the tower in her peripheral vision. If she lost it, she may never find it again. She briefly pondered if it might be one of her friends at the base, or even Yeojin or Olivia, but she couldn’t hold her breath. If it was someone new, she could add another number; she and Olivia were still short three of the LOONA between them.

 

The base of the tower was further down then she thought, and Heejin was amazed at the great height of it all. Even from the bottom, Heejin could see the letters and lines at the top. She smiled at the memory of a summer night in the city, a girl staring at her from above. She remembered the yellow eyes that could only have belonged to Hyunjin. Her heart beat heavy in her chest; she missed her best friend.

 

“Reminiscing?” a voice came from behind her. Heejin turned around, and came face to face with a smiling, blonde girl.

 

“Or are you trying to forget something?” the girl’s voice was thick, as if she was out of breath.

 

“Did you run here?” Heejin raised her eyebrow.

 

“Of course!” the other girl laughed, “It’s the only way to get anything done,”

 

“How long did it take?”

 

“To run from point A to point B when I realized you were here? Not too long. But to actually find you? Way too long,”

 

“You were trying to find me?”

 

“You mean you weren’t trying to find me?”

 

“It depends,” Heejin began, but trailed off. She locked eyes with the girl, and her memory began to clear. She remembered autumn, and running, and a flash of red, and Hyunjin’s voice.

 

“Do you remember me? I’ve been watching you for a while,” the other girl was suddenly serious.

 

“How did you show up so quickly, back then?”

 

“I wasn’t actually there. The nice thing about odd eyes, is that sometimes you can see across dimensions and time,” she chuckled, “Or maybe that’s just me,”

 

“Odd eye?”

 

“It’s the single most descriptive name for it without it being crazy long. I know you have one too,”

 

“I do,” Heejin smiled softly, “Are you one of the LOONA?”

 

“Of course,” the girl extended her hand, “I’m Kim Lip!”

 

“Heejin,” their hands met.

 

“There’s nothing more for you down here. No one is going to come out of the tower,”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“I just do,”

 

“So where do I go from here?”

 

“Run and fly,”

 

“It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you again,”

 

“I know,” Kim Lip smiled widely, “I love you,”

 

“I love you too,” Heejin whispered, and ran.

 

She ran up the stairs. She ran up and up and up. The words ‘I love you’ rang in her ears. Yeojin had said that to her too, once upon a time. Heejin ran up and up and up. If she went high enough she would find answers. She ran to the top of the highest building. She ran up and up and up. And then there she was, at the peak of it all. She looked out at the middle Earth, the second Earth. She could hear the sounds of trains, a good sign.

 

Heejin thought about Hyunjin, and how she knew everything all along.

 

She gripped the railing.

 

Heejin thought about Haseul, and wondered what her hidden sins were.

 

She let go of the railing.

 

Heejin thought of Yeojin, and wondered how they would find one another again.

 

She walked backwards.

 

Heejin thought of Vivi, and how she ran off into the unknown, into the void.

 

She took a step forward.

 

Heejin thought about Kim Lip, and how she knew where to find Heejin before.

 

She broke into a sprint.

 

Heejin thought about Olivia Hye, and wondered how she could turn Heejin’s flames to ice.

 

She reached the end of the railing.

 

Heejin thought about the other three from Eden, and wondered if Olivia had found them yet.

 

She jumped over the railing.

 

Heejin thought about the other two she didn’t know about yet, and wondered if her anwers lay here.

 

She felt the wind hit her face as her momentum brought her up. She could feel the orange energy around her.

 

“Yeojin, I’m coming!” Heejin screamed to the sky.

 

And she flew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends Book 1! Thanks for coming with me on this wild ride! 
> 
> I'll be taking a break for a while to prepare for Book 2, which of course is Hyunjin! Please make sure to subscribe to the series so you know when I post next!
> 
> Thanks!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> I make no promises on when it will be updated, but I'll try to be as quick as possible.


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